Alexis POV

~~Previously on Broken Hearts Mend~~

"Why would she live with me?"

"You mean you don't know who I am?"

"Does the name Alison ring a bell?" Rose challenged. His eyes widened and he took a deep breath before sputtering out,

"Fuck. My. Life."

~~Currently on Broken Hearts Mend~~

"Oh, so it does ring a bell?" Rose demanded. I don't know why, but she sounded really angry. Adrian put his hands up.

"Calm down Little Dhampir," Adrian tried, and failed, to soothe Rose.

"Calm down? I'm pissed off!" she screeched at him. Lissa put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"No! Rose has a reason to be pissed off!" Christian yelled. Adrian ran a hand down his face.

"I'm not understanding the conflict here," Adrian told everyone.

"The 'conflict' is that you left Alex's mother!" Rose screamed. Adrian's eyes narrowed.

"Rose, you shouldn't be talking to me about leaving people," he stated coldly. Rose made a growling sound.

"ADRIAN! That is not my point! I have apologized numerous times to you, I have tried to become friends with you. I am sorry that I do not love you the way I love Dimitri. You can't force love though," Rose shouted at him.

"Love? Love? Your talking to me about love? I fucking loved you! You just told me that its okay to leave someone you don't love! Well, I didn't love Alison!" Adrian growled.

"No, Adrian. That is not what I was saying! Your right! You didn't love Alison, you used her! And I'm still in your life, aren't I? I'm still trying to be your friend, because I care about you Adrian! But your so fucking stupid! My point is that because of you, Lexi didn't have a father in her life! And you know what it is okay to leave someone if you don't love them. What's not okay is to vanish from their life completely and be a total asshole about it!" Rose ranted.

"Oh, really? So it's also okay to cheat on someone?" Adrian challenged.

"This not about you and me, this is about Alexis! You know? The daughter that you didn't know about!" I placed my hands over my ears and turned to Lissa.

"They're fighting!" I wailed. Lissa knelt down.

"No, honey. They're not fighting. They're just... expressing they're opinions loudly," Lissa explained to me. She got up and looked directly at Rose and Adrian. In a very official and commanding voice she said,

"That is enough!" Her voice echoed through the woods, "Adrian and Alexis have some bonding to do. We will check in with you in the morning Lord Ivashkov!" she and Christian both gave me goodbye hugs. Rose glared at Adrian, turned on one heel, and stalked off with her father. Adrian opened the door and I scrambled in.

I instantly found myself hitting the ground. I made a tiny "oomph!" sound as I got the wind knocked out of me. Adrian turned around.

"Walk much?" he snapped. (A/N I know that doesn't sound like Adrian, but remember he's super pissed at Rose) I felt my bottom lip quiver and a steady stream of tears started to come out of my eyes. I was a silent crier, I didn't wail like most five year old's. My breathing started to pick up a little, that was it. I looked up at my dad. His face softened.

"Awe, no. Don't cry Lexi! I didn't mean it. Daddy's just stressed out," He leaned down and pulled me into a hug. He picked me up. I put my tiny arms around his neck and squeezed him in a death grip. My head rested on his shoulder, making a very wet spot on his shirt. He pointed at the ground.

"Is that what you tripped on?" he asked. I tuned my head and saw that he was pointing at an empty bottle. I nodded my head. Sniffling, I looked around the room. They were all over the place!

"Gee, you sure were thirsty!" I said with a giggle. He chuckled and I could feel his chest rumble.

"Yeah, let's go with that," he set me down and grasped my hand, making sure I don't fall again. He gave me a quick tour around the small house. There was a kitchen/dinning room, a flight of stairs that leads to the only bedroom in the house, two full bathrooms (one downstairs and one connected to the bedroom), and then the entrance/living room. Everywhere there were bottles. I tried to read them but could barely get past "vod."

"We're going to have to go shopping tomorrow," he told me. I nodded enthusiastically. I've always loved shopping. When I go with my mom, we would put on mini fashion shows. My stomach growled.

"I'm hungry!" I blurted. He froze.

"Umm yeah, we have food somewhere," he rubbed the back of his neck. I was shocked.

"What do you usually do?" I asked. He looked nervous. He was tapping his foot, and rubbing his face. If I looked really closely I could tell he was biting the inside of his cheek.

Adrian POV

Crap! What am I supposed to say? How on Earth do you tell your 5 year old daughter that you've been wasted and practically starving yourself? I just stood there biting my cheek.

"Well I've been too... upset to eat," I partially lied. She tilted her head just like her mother would, staring into my eyes with ones identical to mine. She made me nervous, I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because she can read me so well. Her mom was amazing at it, I wouldn't be surprised if that gene got passed to her two.

"What made you upset?" she asked in her sweet voice.

"I was in lo- My aunt had passed away," I covered. That was part of the reason, but I got over that. Sure, I loved her, but when Tasha was killed I had closure. Especially because the queen she had wanted was crowned. No, my real problem was love. Always love. I'll always love Rose. There was someone else, though. I had only felt real love twice. The first time I was too stupid to realize what it was. I was scared, scared of what people would think. Then Rose came along. She did what she wanted, not caring what others thought of her. The exact reason she talked to me in the first place. I learned that skill from Rose. People though terrible things of me already, but that was the sheer reason I drank and smoked. Looking back on it I realize that I did love someone. It was the first person. Alexis voice

"What's that mean?" her sweet little voice questioned. I was snapped out of my inner mind babble.

"It means that they will no longer be alive. They're gone for good. It's a hard concept to explain, but basically you'll never see them again," I tried to explain. I think she mostly understood the last part. She took a big gulp before saying in a strained voice.

"Is that what happened to mommy?" she asked. I nodded. She frowned and shook her head, "what's heaven?"

"Some people say that when you pass away you go to a place called Heaven. They say its a wonderful place. A much better place then here," I told her. She looked sad.

"Do you think she went there?" her question was one of those rare ones that caught me off guard.

"What?" I asked.

"You said 'some people' are you one of them?" she asked again. I pondered it for a while, before answering.

"I'm not sure what I think of what happens when people die. I just don't like to think that far ahead. I believe that death is a question we must all answer by ourselves, when the time comes. Until then, we should live in the moment and enjoy what we have before its gone," I told her. I knew she was five and was having trouble contemplating what she just said but I'm just going to keep giving her this piece of advice until she could understand it.

"That's good advice," a voice said from the door.

Rose POV

We had just gotten back to the Royal bedrooms; all of us were gathered inside Lissa's huge house.

"Well that went well!" I announced sarcastically.

"Yeah, the best part was when you and Adrian made Alexis cry," Christian added to the already sarcastic remark.

"I'm sure that's the way Alison pictured her child and the father of her child meeting," Lissa, two, added to the sarcasm.

"Well, goal accomplished, right? You gave Alexis her father," Abe said, looking on the bright side, unusable for him. I looked up at my fathers face.

"What's your point Old Man?" I demanded, sitting down on a beanbag chair. I saw a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"Just trying to remind you guys why we really went there," he put an emphasis on the word "really". Lissa eyes widened.

"Shoot! We forgot to convince him to move back into court! Ugh! I can't find a guardian for him right now," she sighed then met my eyes. I could practically see the gears turning inside her head.

"Liss, no. I can't. I have to protect you! Plus, I can't go back after what just happened," I argued. Her eyes pleaded for me to say yes.

"I'll be fine Rose. Please? Pretty, pretty, please with a doughnut on top?" she pleaded. I glared.

"You owe me a doughnut!" I called as I walked towards the door.

"I'll get you a whole box!" she called back before I shut the door. I ran at top speed to the little house. It was only about 3 miles away so I got there in no time, thanks to my dhampir speed and, of course, the fact that I'm Rose Hathaway. I didn't even bother to knock on the door. Adrian and Alexis were right in the living room talking. They hadn't noticed me yet.

I only herd the tail end of their conversation.

"What?" Adrian asked. It was one of those rare moments when he was caught off guard.

"You said 'some people' are you one of them?" Lexi asked him. Wait, one of what?

"I'm not sure what I think of what happens when people die. I just don't like to think that far ahead. I believe that death is a question we must all answer by ourselves, when the time comes. Until then, we should live in the moment and enjoy what we have before its gone," Oh, he was talking to her about death. It was actually really good advice. I walked forward, almost slipping on an empty bottle of vodka. I shook my head at the fact that they were everywhere.

"That's good advice," I spoke directly to Adrian.

"Rosie!" Alexis squealed, running up to me. She hugged my legs. I patted her head.

"Hey, Alex," I greeted. Adrian came up beside her.

"Alexis, why don't you go into the kitchen and wait for me, okay?" Adrian asked. She nodded.

"Okay, daddy," and walked to the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Adrian hissed.

"Fine if your going to speak to me like that then I'll just leave and your daughter won't have any protection," I lied. I started to walk away but Adrian grasped my wrist.

"Wait," he took a deep breath and in a much softer voice he said, "I'm sorry. Why are you here?"

"Lissa didn't want to leave Alexis without protection. 'cause it was last minute I was took the job," I explained.

"Thank you," he told me.

"Kay, well, I'll be guarding the perimeter. Bye!" I started to walk out before I stopped myself, "Oh, and Adrian?" he came to a halt and turned around.

"Yea?"

"You should take your own advice. Live in the moment, quit drinking. And, forgive the past," with that, I walked out.